Alamo Heights homecoming

Grad paralyzed by gunfire is welcomed to renovated home.

Updated 5:36 pm, Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Photo: JOHN DAVENPORT, SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

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Former Alamo Heights High School student and basketball player Eddie Moreno, 18, is greeted by his brother Ryan, 14. The father of a Mules teammate and hundreds of volunteers rebuilt their home after Moreno was shot in a March 26 road rage incident.

Former Alamo Heights High School student and basketball player Eddie Moreno, 18, is greeted by his brother Ryan, 14. The father of a Mules teammate and hundreds of volunteers rebuilt their home after Moreno was

Friends and family of former Alamo Heights High School student Eddie Moreno, Jr. wait for his arrival at home after months of healing and rehabilitation after being shot in a vehicular drive by shooting on March 26, 2011. JOHN DAVENPORT/jdavenport@express-news.net

Friends and family of former Alamo Heights High School student Eddie Moreno, Jr. wait for his arrival at home after months of healing and rehabilitation after being shot in a vehicular drive by shooting on

Alamo Heights graduate Eddie Moreno is seen through the window of his ambulance. He later told the crowd outside his renovated home, “I just want to say thank you to everybody who prayed for me, believed in me, and everybody who helped with the house.” His mother says his speech is improving daily.

Alamo Heights graduate Eddie Moreno is seen through the window of his ambulance. He later told the crowd outside his renovated home, “I just want to say thank you to everybody who prayed for me, believed in

Former Alamo Heights High School student and basketball player Eddie Moreno, 18, speaks through a megaphone and thanks friends and family on Monday, Nov. 21, 2011 after returning home after eight months. Holding the megaphone is Moreno's mother, Jennifer Moreno.

Former Alamo Heights High School student and basketball player Eddie Moreno, 18, speaks through a megaphone and thanks friends and family on Monday, Nov. 21, 2011 after returning home after eight months.

Former Alamo Heights High School student and basketball player Eddie Moreno, 18, is greeted by friends and family after months of rehabilitation after being shot in a March 26 road rage incident. Moreno is paralyzed from the neck down. Holding her hand over Morenos's head is his mother, Jennifer Moreno.

Former Alamo Heights High School student and basketball player Eddie Moreno, 18, is greeted by friends and family after months of rehabilitation after being shot in a March 26 road rage incident. Moreno is

Eddie Moreno was still in his ambulance, a block away from home, when he could hear the cheers from the crowd.

He had the paramedics adjust his stretcher so he could sit up and see the commotion.

When he returned home on Monday for the first time since he was shot in a March road rage incident, he returned to a group of about 150 people chanting his name.

“It's awesome,” he said. “It's a blessing. This is everything I've been waiting for and more.”

Moreno, 18, a former Alamo Heights High School basketball player, was paralyzed from the neck down when he was shot March 26. He had been in hospitals ever since, until he returned to a newly renovated home on Monday.

Renovations began on July 8 for “Operation Bring Eddie Home,” and a four-month project to make the house wheelchair-accessible meant rebuilding the Moreno home from the foundation up.

Almost 1,000 square feet was added to the home, and every room is wheelchair-accessible.

Among the changes are space in the garage for his physical therapy and an extra bedroom for a nurse. Eddie, who will need the use of a ventilator for the rest of his life, now has a room that's wired with a backup generator in case of a power outage.

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Everything in the house was outfitted with Eddie in mind, down to the countertop of the kitchen island that's high enough to slide his wheelchair underneath.

“I brought blueprints to him at the hospital one day, and he was pretty excited,” said Richard Garcia, who spearheaded the construction project and is the father of Moreno's Alamo Heights teammate Brandon Garcia. “Eddie's going to be able to go anywhere he wants in the house and be a part of everything.”

Eddie's room also has a wall devoted to his basketball medals and trophies. Before the shooting, Moreno hoped to become a basketball coach.

Eddie's favorite part of his new room: his new flat-screen TV.

The crowd that greeted Eddie for his return included former teammates, the Alamo Heights cheerleading squad and two Spurs Silver Dancers.

“I just want to say thank you to everybody who prayed for me, believed in me, and everybody who helped with the house,” Eddie said to the crowd. “It's truly a blessing.”

The project was almost entirely funded by donations from about 100 businesses and hundreds of personal donations.

About 300 volunteers also spent time working on the Moreno house, many of them calling it “Extreme Home Makeover: Community Edition.”

“There are no words for how thankful we are,” said Jennifer Moreno, Eddie's mother. “I can't believe this is our house. We still have a long way to go, but this is the first part of moving on.”

Moreno has made steady progress since spending the first three months after the shooting in intensive care. He graduated from Alamo Heights in June, and Jennifer said his speech is improving on a daily basis.

He spends about seven hours a day in his wheelchair and can control the chair on his own with a breathing tube.

No arrests have been made in the shooting.

“We're never going to be back to normal,” said Ryan Moreno, an Alamo Heights freshman and one of Eddie's three younger brothers. “But it's a new life, and there are going to be new memories. This house is going to help us make the best of it.”

Since Eddie was born, the Moreno family has held every Thanksgiving dinner in the same house.

His father, Eddie Sr., said the family wondered if this year would be different, if Thanksgiving would have to be in a hospital waiting room like so many other family dinners have been these past eight months.